Greenwich fire victim burned in October fire

By Bob Gardinier

Updated 9:14 pm, Monday, January 13, 2014

A 77-year-old man who died in a Salem Street house fire Sunday had just been discharged from the hospital for burns he received in an accidental fire at the same home in October, officials said.

The intense blaze was first reported just after 5 p.m. and destroyed the two-family home at 56 Salem St. After firefighters got the blaze under control they found Paul Parker Sr. 77, dead in a first-floor bedroom.

His wife, Anna Parker, also 77, escaped. She was treated for minor burns to her hands, Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said.

Two adults with children who lived on the second floor were not at home at the time. They lost everything, Bell said.

The American Red Cross is providing housing and other assistance to the families, authorities said.

Bell said the fire was not suspicious, but did say Parker smoked and had a health condition that required he be on highly flammable oxygen at times. It was oxygen that caused his injuries in the October fire, but the blaze was out before it damaged the home, Bell said.

"We are having an autopsy done and county and state fire investigators are looking into the origin of the fire, which preliminarily we consider accidental," Bell said.

The fire moved fast, and the first responders on the scene were not able to get through the flames to locate Parker, Bell said.

It appeared the fire started in the first-floor living room occupied at the time by Anna Parker, who Bell said gave investigators information on what she saw. Bell would not release that information Monday.

Homes on both sides of the destroyed structure were damaged. The house to the south is uninhabitable, Bell said.